A little taste of the future - two siblings playing together quietly with no parental interference.

Cecilia initiated it, whacking the beads on the toy over and over again.  John Paul thought this was a good plan, so he went to the opposite end of the toy to start playing. 

Cecilia stopped what she was doing, completely enraptured by her brother's superior skills.

She was so focused, she didn't even try to swipe the apple out of his hand before he made it to his mouth!

I just love the little glimpses we get of their future relationship - John Paul's constant attempts to make her laugh (shrieking and cackling while running around in circles seems to do the trick, much to our annoyance), Cecilia's desperate need to be wherever John Paul is at all times (and climbing the stairs quick as lightning to make her way to him), the special smiles saved only for one another. 

Despite the tantrums (John Paul REALLY wanted to wear the pink diaper last night.  I relented, and then he freaked out that Cecilia got to wear the green one.  Same issue with bibs.), two is much more fun than one :)

Our latest

You know you lead an exciting life when the morning's most fruitful event is the baby's first bowel movement in 6 days...  Cecilia, much like John Paul at this stage, needs to be snuggled in standing position with her feet held in order to produce anything.   There were no stickers in this diaper, thank goodness - I've rescued so many from her mouth this week, I'm considering banning stickers in our house.

Meanwhile, John Paul is trying to climb into the jumperoo.  I think it's time to put it away...  Cecilia is trying very hard to learn how to walk (she's cruising like crazy and wants to spend much of the day walking around while I hold her hands, which suggests we're only a few weeks away if she follows John Paul's example).  Once John Paul learned to walk he was DONE with the jumperoo.  This is rather unfortunate, as Cecilia has learned how to climb the stairs and there is now NOWHERE I can put her where she'll just stay put.

John Paul has figured out how to put his sneakers on by himself, which is very exciting - we can be ready to go and ask him to go put his shoes on and he DOES it, which saves a little time.  Makes me thankful that he actually knows the difference between left and right, although he still mixes the shoes up sometimes...  He is currently wearing nothing but sneakers while he tries to eat a frozen waffle with a fork (he managed to spear the whole thing and when it was an inch away from his mouth the whole thing fell on the floor.  He is, thankfully, picking up the pieces.).  Cecilia is lying on the floor chewing on a toy pair of tweezers and wagging her tail (kicking her leg over and over).

(This post interrupted by John Paul, who insisted on playing "Are you HEEEERE?" with me, a game that consists of him covering his face and spinning around in circles while I tickle various parts of him saying, "Are you HERE?" while he giggles, snorts, and squeaks.  This is made more amusing by the lack of clothing and presence of sneakers.)

One of these days I'll capture a real kiss...

Cecilia is VERY proud of her new skill - pulling up on this toy and walking across the room!

Sound it out!

John Paul has gotten VERY excited about "sounding it out" lately, making me spell TONS of words for him over and over again so that he can recognize them on sight.  He's finally getting the hang of sounding words out on his own, but he doesn't quite have it when he's looking at new words.

"Story and Pictures" = "ESSSS-TUH.  SSSSSSTUH.  SSSSSTOH.  Stop!  A-n-d spells and.  Puh.  Pih.  Piss.  Pisstuh."  Hard c vs. soft c is a tricky one!

Potty training success begins!

In the past couple of days John Paul has suddenly taken a SERIOUS interest in using the potty.  He's constantly talking about, "A crotch for makin' pee, and a booty, and a little hole for makin' poop!" (edited wording to part of "Once Upon A Potty," one of his favorite books.  He keeps finding underwear and trying very hard to put it on himself, and then he gets very upset when we tell him he can't wear that to bed until he learns how to pee in the potty.

He keeps reading another favorite book, "The New Potty" and reciting the beginning, "I.  Am a big boy!  I pee in the potty.  I weah undah-pants with skateboards on it!"  But Andrew and I remind him that he doesn't pee in the potty yet, and he seems to be very sad that he hasn't yet mastered that skill.

Two days ago he decided that he WANTED TO PEE IN THE POTTY!  So he ran to the BIG toilet and had me sit him on it.  Nothing happened.  He tried, but he had no idea how to make himself pee.  He was VERY upset when Andrew and I made him get off to take his bath.  But then he had a lightbulb moment - if he can pee in the bath tub, he can use that same feeling to figure out how to pee in the toilet!  He tried again the next day - no luck. 

But this morning he was having naked time for a while before we got dressed for church.  All of a sudden he paused and said, "PEE IN THE POTTY!" and RAN to the toilet, lifted up the lid, and sat down on his own.  Nothing happened.  And then, all of a sudden, he figured it out!  Meanwhile I'm crouched on the floor in front of the toilet, holding his legs to make sure he doesn't fall in, hoping desperately that he doesn't pee on me...

He is SO proud of himself and keeps reciting parts of "Once Upon A Potty" while he sits on the toilet.  He managed to go a tiny bit before his nap as well.  He has yet to do anything on the little potty seat we got - maybe that's totally unnecessary?  But I'm pretty excited about this new development - hopefully he'll keep improving and I won't have to worry about him still not being potty trained by the time he's like, 4!

*Edited to add - Before we went upstairs to go to bed he managed to produce a little #1 & #2 in his little potty downstairs - looks like we are ready to start taking this a little more seriously!

May I please...

Let's face it, John Paul is clingy.  He wants me to be with him ALL the time.  I'm not allowed to go fold laundry while he's playing in the bathtub, I am supposed to sit on the toilet and WATCH him play.

For a while, every time I left there was an outraged, "MOOOM!" and fussing until I came back.  Finally I told him that he needed to ask nicely and use a sentence like, "Could Mom please come back?"  John Paul was silent for a while and then I heard a very timid, "May IIIII pweez...  Have my mom!" 

How can I resist that?  So that's where we've been the past couple of weeks, except now he has started responding to himself.  "May IIIII pweez...  Have my mom!  Yes you may!"  At this point I'm not sure if he actually *wants* me or if he just enjoys the fact that he can use his manners so effectively.  But it's pretty cute either way!